


crybaby

by spideyboy



Series: the skeleton clique [3]
Category: Halsey (Musician), Melanie Martinez (Musician), Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Aromantic, Asexuality, Bisexuality, Developing Friendships, Fluff, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Kinda, ace!josh, ace!tyler, alternative universe, aroflux!josh, genderqueer!josh, nerds having fun together, the skeleton clique rises™, the skeleton clique series, yep josh's pronouns are they/them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-13
Packaged: 2018-06-07 16:55:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6814294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spideyboy/pseuds/spideyboy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler bumps on someone, and they decide, as the Skeleton Clique™, that they need to help.</p>
<p>or: the skeleton clique helps out a fren</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. part one: the crybaby

**Author's Note:**

> i hope u enjoy, yo! also pls correct me if there are some mistakes thx xxx

“Ha, you’re never gonna get me!” Tyler screams as he runs through the corridor, grinning widely at Josh, who runs right after him.

“You’re gonna pay for this, asshole!”, Josh screams back, their face partially covered with toothpaste already dry, making their face turn red. “You’ll see, I’ll have my revenge!”

Tyler is still running when he bumps abruptly on someone, making both of them fall.

“Fuck, are you okay?!” He exclaims at the girl he just hit, a concerned expression on his face.

“I-I’m okay, t-thanks.” The girl mutters awkwardly, trying to get up. Tyler stands up quickly and offers his hand to her. She glares him with watery eyes and accepts his hand, her shyness showing off.

“Shit, I’m so sorry, I really am, I didn’t mean to...”

“Hey, what’s going on?”, Josh asks as they approach, and the girl is staring the floor. “Dude, is she okay?”

“Y-yeah”, the girl mutters, holding tightly the edge of her lilac jumper, not looking at any of them.

Tyler frowns. “I’m sorry, are you okay? Do you need anything? We can get you a glass of water or something. Josh can go to the toilet with you if you want.” She frowns in confusion at Tyler and he explains too fast, “it’s because they’re non-binary, y’know, so you don’t need to be alone.”

“Uh...” She shrinks her small shoulders, still too shy to say anything.

Josh and Tyler stare at each other, confused about the situation, and Tyler gently puts his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, it’s okay, fren.”

“I’m okay”, she says, more to herself than to both of them, tears rolling across her delicate face. “I’m okay. I’ll be okay.”

“Do you need anything?”, Josh asks, and she bits her bottom lip.

“I’m okay. I-I-I’m sorry!!”, she completes and walks away quickly, just like that.

Tyler turns to his friend in confusion. “Dude, what the hell just happened?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she’s an alien and can’t copy with all the earthling stuff”, Josh deduces.

“Of course, Josh, why haven’t I thought of that before”, he answers sarcastically.

“Hey, peeps, what’s up?” Halsey greets them as she approaches. She stares at Josh. “What the fuck is this on your face?”

“Tyler thought it’d be funny to put toothpaste on my face.” They roll their brown eyes.

“Holy crap, Tyler”, Halsey starts laughing as she pokes Josh’s face. “You’re a little shit, you know that?”

“Yep”, he smiles innocently at her.

“Anyway, Ash, do you know that girl?” They point to the direction that weird, half black half pink haired girl is, still holding the edge of her jumper while checking her phone. She’s leaning against the wall while a tall, curly haired guy is talking to her.

“Oh”, Halsey goes distracted. “It’s Melanie. Don’t remember her last name. She’s weird.”

“How weird?” Tyler asks.

“She’s... well, people have nicknamed her...” A pause. “Like. Everyone calls her _crybaby_ ,” she murmurs.

Josh raises an eyebrow. “Crybaby?”

“Yeah. It’s because she’s sensitive as heck, so people enjoy disturbing her. You know”, she sighs. “This school is full of sick bastards.”

“That's horrible”, Tyler mutters.

“I know”, Halsey replies. “I hate shit like that, so I don’t let people call her that in front of me.” She crosses her arms. “I mean, I just called her weird, but we’re also a bunch of weirdos anyway, so we should help each other out.”

“You’re right. That should not happen, like, _at all_ ”, Josh says.

“I’ve never heard anything about her ever, I haven’t even _seen_ her before.” The boy seems kind of disappointed. “If I knew about it before...”

“Yeah, but you didn’t”, Halsey interrupts, her fingers on her hair, which has started growing and its length is almost on her shoulders. “And that’s okay.”

“Yeah, Tyler, don’t blame all of this on yourself”, Josh hurries to tell their friend. He nods slightly, looking at some spot on the floor.

“Besides, you can’t protect everyone all the time”, she completes.

Tyler is still not looking at them.

“Tyler?”

“I can try”, he says, almost whispering, and walks away.

Both of them stare at each with disbelief. “Dude.”

“ _Dude_ ”, she agrees.

“What do we do?”

“Let him alone for a while, maybe?”, Halsey suggests. “When he feels better he’ll talk to us. Right?”

“Yeah, I guess”, Josh sighs. “It’s just... uh, this has never happened before, you know.”

Halsey is still staring at them with a concerned look while both go to the girls’ restroom so Josh can _finally_ wash the toothpaste away.

 

•|i|• Ø i+! ].[

 

Three days. _Three freaking days_ since that happened and saying that Josh and Ash are worried is redundancy. Tyler has been absent in spirit this whole time; every time they tried talking to him, they only got monosyllabic answers. When they had free time or during lunch, the boy was always with his younger brother Zack, so there was no way they could talk.

That was starting to get ridiculous.

After three days, Halsey approaches Tyler after school – Zack hasn’t come to school – with Josh following her like a lost puppy.

“Oi, Tyler, we gotta talk to you, mate”, Halsey tells him.

“Why?” He asks, his voice as sharp as a knife. “I need some time alone.”

Josh looks at him as if he has just stabbed them, but Halsey is absolutely decided to take no shit: “Awesome, Tyler, you had three days _alone_ already. That’s enough. Now we _must_ have a reunion. Skeleton Clique, remember?”

“Guys”, he starts, “not today. Please.”

“SKELETON CLIQUE ASSEMBLE!” she yells anyway, dragging both Tyler and Josh to the opposite direction everyone in the school is going.

And this is how the three of them end up sitting on the floor of the abandoned girls’ restroom on second floor.

“Tell me again why we are in the girls’ restroom”, Josh asks to the blue haired girl.

“It was the best place I could think about”, she mutters to them while she eyes Tyler. If he had six hours per night of sleep, that was too much; besides, he seems so tired Halsey almost feel sorry for yelling like that.

Almost.

“Anyway!”, she snaps suddenly, and Tyler shrinks a bit on his place. “We need to talk. And it’s gonna be now... Ghost.”

He looks at her and nods tiredly. Halsey sees it as an opportunity to continue: “Okay. So, Spooky Jim, tell us what happened.”

Josh stares at her, a confused look on their face. “What?”

“Like, explain, in your own words, what happened for us to be in this current situation.”

“Oh. Okay.” They clean their throat. “So, I was running after Tyler on the corridor, because he put toothpaste on my face while I slept.”

“Why were you sleeping, though?”, she asks with a soft smile while Tyler let a breathy chuckle out.

Josh blushes a bit. “It was P. E. and I was too lazy to go. Anyway, so, I woke up with my face itching like fucking hell and he was laughing at me, so he started running away and I ran after him.

“Then Tyler hit Melanie – it’s Melanie, right? – and they started talking, and I was still far from them.

“When I came near them, Tyler was apologizing to her and she was like, very shy and stuff. I asked what was going on and if she was okay, and she said yes but... she was crying. And Tyler offered to get some water and asked either she wanted me to go to the restroom with her, but she denied and said sorry and... ran away, just like that.”

They look at Halsey, who looks back, narrowing her eyes. “Okay. Thanks, Spooky Jim.” She eyes Tyler then. “Now, Ghost, can you explain why you’re upset?”

The boy sighs, bringing his knees to his chest and putting his chin on top of his knees. “It’s because... how can I explain this...”

He sighs again. “At my older school, you know, my brother and I didn’t have any frens. There was a lot of bullies and people who were considered their targets.

“Luckily, neither of us were targets, but... I saw so much sadness, and violence, and fear. I don’t want people to be afraid of being who they are. So... I promised my brother, and he promised me, we would not let anyone be bullied and protect our frens.

“Now I’ve got frens, and we protect each other, but... seeing people being bullied like this at school and not even _knowing_ about it, that’s... that’s just...” He shakes his head, sadly.

“Tyler”, Josh speaks up first. They hug the skinnier boy by his side. “It’s okay. We’re here.”

“Damn right we are”, Halsey agrees and hugs Tyler by his other side, grabbing his shoulder. “Look. I’m sorry.”

“N-no, don’t, it’s okay”, he starts, but Halsey shushes him.

“Let me speak first. We can’t protect everyone 100% of the time.” Josh narrows their eyes to her, but she ignores them. “You can’t know when people are sad or being hurt all the time. You know that better than me and Josh here. But...” She bites her bottom lip for a second or two. “When we do _know_ about it... we can change it.”

Tyler raises his head to stare at her with watery eyes, but Halsey knows what that look means. It’s not the look he was giving her and Josh before. It’s almost like… _he just had an idea_.

“Wait, so... you’re suggesting that...” Josh stops talking as they conclude their thought.

“Yes, I’m suggesting that we... let’s say...  _have fun_ with Melanie’s bullies.” Halsey gives them a devilish smirk.


	2. part two: the plan™

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They meet at Tyler's house and Halsey has an idea.
> 
> or: they discuss The Plan™

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YOOOO this chapter is kinda short bc theres only one scene or two but its important anyway. i hope u enjoy and pls correct me if there are any mistakes xxx

Josh looks furtively forward while they skate to Tyler’s house; the three of them have agreed that the best place to discuss The Plan™ was and always will be Ghost’s house.

They stop next to a tree as their phone beeps, meaning they’ve received a new message.

 

**ghost h (04:35 PM):  
** yo loser . did u bring th etables

 

Josh rolls their eyes at the code word for the seventh time that day; Halsey was so ridiculously stubborn they didn’t even bother on arguing.

 

**dj spooky jim (04:35 PM):  
** ofc i did. y ur typing skills r so terrible tho

**ghost h (04:36 PM):  
** bitch u dont own me **  
** r u skatin while textinf tho **  
** dont die we need u in our mission

**dj spooky jim (04:37 PM):  
** shut up

 

Josh smiles as they put their phone again on the jacket’s pocket, getting impulse again, that weird, tight feeling on his chest still there but it’s a bit calmer than before.

Time seems to fly whenever they skate; a small part of Josh is surprised when they get to Tyler’s house. But they’re not surprised at the fact that Tyler is looking through the curtains on the living room, so when they approach he’s already opening the front door with a big grin, his white sunglasses and a floral kimono on.

“Welcome, Spooky Jim!”, he announces as he lets Josh come in. “Spooky Halsey is already on the basement."

“Fuck, the basement?”

“Yeah, now my room is there, remember when I told you?” Tyler asks, still a grin on.

“Ohh, yes I do! You and Zack exchanged rooms, right?”

“Yep, he said he couldn’t copy with the lack of natural light there”, he explains as they walk through the aisle. “He was lying, of course. There’s a big ass window, I don’t know why he complained so much. Because it’s freaking sick, I’m tellin’ ya.”

Josh chuckles at his friend’s excitement, since they, well... they’ve missed that, to be quite honest.

“Oh, yeah, sorry, no one’s home by now”, the boy awkwardly explains. “My parents are at work, my brothers must be playing soccer by now, so...”

“It’s okay Tyler, no worries”, they answer.

Tyler opens the basement door and, oh God. His new room is amazing, to say the least. There’s even an old couch along with the TV and the huge collection of Nintendo videogames very carefully clean. On the couch, Halsey is laying down, reading a Deadpool comic, and she smirks at Josh when she sees them.

“Yo, Spooky Jim.”

“Hey, Spooky Halsey, what’s up?”

She hums. “Tyler, I’m gonna borrow this one, if you don’t mind.”

“No problem, fren”, he answers lightly, sitting on his bed while Josh and Halsey sit by each other’s side on the couch. “So, is everyone ready for our meeting?”

“Before we start, I must say two things”, Josh starts. “First: dude, I missed ya, even though it was only three days.” Tyler grins at him and Josh grins back. “Secondly, your new room is sick as frick and it must be the official place for meetings, trade mark.”

Halsey laughs a bit, “Yeah! Dude, I wish I lived here, this is amazing.”

“Thank you, frens”, Tyler smiles. “I missed you guys too, and I’m sorry. That won’t happen again.” A pause. “Right. Let’s get started.”

“Okay, Spooky Jim, Ghost, do you have a plan already, or anything in mind?”

“Oi, Halsey, you said you had one!” Josh complains, confused.

Ghost looks at her confused as well. “What do you mean?”

She bites her bottom lip nervously. “Like, folks, I’ve got an idea, but it’s not very... you know... not exactly, healthy, or innocent.”

Both Ghost and Spooky Jim stare at each other, frowning.

“Right”, Tyler manages. “What’s involved?”

Halsey looks at them, as if pondering about something. “Wait, have any of you tried to talk to Melanie?”

“No”, Josh says uneasily. “You mean, about the...?”

“About what we want to do”, she explained. “Like, what if she’s afraid of it becoming worse than before?”

Silence falls.

“You’re right, we’re so stupid”, Tyler finally declares. “I don’t have her phone number or her Facebook, though.”

“Me neither,” Josh says. “But it must be easy to find her there.”

“Folks, I’ve got her number”, Halsey announces, Melanie’s chat already opened on WhatsApp.

“What, really? You’re so versatile”, the non-binary teen jokes, and she punches their arm.

“Thanks, loser”, she answers sarcastically. “Okay, come on, we must do it together.”

“Oh my God, this reminds me the time Tyler and I made that message for you, Ash”, Josh says excitedly.

“Why do you always ruin the magic of mystery, Josh Dun?”, the boy in floral kimono replies ironically, making all of them laugh out loud.

Halsey types carefully a text, showing both of them before sending. “Well. Now we have to wait, but not much.”

“How do you know?” Josh asks, and… her phone beeps.

She smirks: “Haven’t you ever noticed how much time that girl spends on typing stuff on her phone?”

“No”, Tyler and Josh answer at the same time.

“Okay, she’s... she’s freaking out”, the girl tells them, frowning at the screen. “‘Maybe I’m really a crybaby, I don’t fucking care’”, she reads. “‘I just want them to leave me alone, but it seems like it just drags more people into this mess’.”

“Shit”, Tyler mutters and lets his back hit the wall behind him.

“Try telling her we just wanna help and it could get worse if she just accept it”, Josh says quickly as Halsey types faster than any other normal human being they’ve ever seen.

“I’m telling her what you said, Josh, and that she has two options: either letting us help her and making the possibility of people leaving her alone bigger, or else, well, being called a crybaby forever. And the choice is hers.” Halsey stops typing and throws her phone at Josh, sighing exasperatedly.

“She’s typing... no, she stopped. Wait, she’s typing again...”

“We’re not freaking weirdos, for fuck’s sake! We’re trying to help, fuck”, Halsey complains out loud, crossing her legs on top of Tyler’s couch. Tyler nods as Josh watches her phone.

“She’s typing, non stop... wait, wait, wait, no, she stopped.”

“Maybe not everyone wanna be saved”, Tyler mutters, glaring the ceiling. Halsey sighs exasperatedly, getting up from the couch to join him by his side on his bed, hugging him silently. He put his arm around her waist, half hugging her back.

“She answered!” Josh exclaims. “She said okay, but...” They frown. “‘Don’t put me on this directly.’ I think we can do that.”

They type something to her and Halsey quickly stands up, a devilish smile on her face, grabbing her phone from Josh’s hands. “The first part of the mission has been completed!”

Tyler smirks at her, still sitting on his bed. “You say that like a person with a plan.”

“I do have one, as I told you before, Ghost”, she says simply. “It’s an idea, actually, and Josh has already brought a part of it with them.”

The boy looks at his non-binary friend like they’ve just betrayed him. “What the hell, Spooky Jim, and you don’t even tell me?”

Josh shrinks a bit while they answer quietly, “Ash asked for them kinda suddenly, I’m sorry.”

“Aww,” Halsey makes sarcastically as she puts her arm on their shoulders. “It wasn’t that sudden, c’mon Jim.” They pretend to wipe a fake tear and she laughs. “Okay, but you brought it, right?”

“I did,” and Josh grabs their backpack, opening it and showing its inside to their friends.

Both Halsey and Tyler take a look inside...

“You’re kidding”, Tyler says, not even looking at them.

“Hell yeah, this is gonna be _sick_.” Halsey nods with a big grin.

 

...

 

 **ghost h (05:17 PM):  
** hey melanie whats up? this is ashley frangpine  
u must kno me im troye’s fren too  
yo listen ma frens ty and jish bumped on u these days remember?  
well,, they didnt kno u so when ppl told em u were being called crybaby they were upset  
n tbh i h8 it as well so we decided 2 play a prank on nate n his asshat friends but we neede d2 kno if ur ok w this

**little body big heart (05:17 PM):**  
what????  
no no no  
no way  
dont do that

**ghost h (05:18 PM):  
** why not

**little body big heart (05:18 PM):  
** no  
look  
they’re right  
maybe i’m really a crybaby  
i don’t fucking care  
i just want them to leave me alone  
but it seems like it just drags more people into this mess

**ghost h (05:20 PM):  
** look jirsh said we just wanna help and it could get worse if u just accept it and i agree  
also u’ve got two options: either letting us help u & making those horrible peeps go away from u  
or being called a crybaby forever. choice’s urs melanie  
(dont need to answer now ok we dont wanna put so much pressure on u)

**little body big heart (05:24 PM):  
** fine, okay.  
but look  
i just wanna ask u something  
don’t put me on this directly.  
please

**ghost h (05:24 PM):  
** yo, josh here! no problem melanie thanks for trusting us :^)

**little body big heart (05:25 PM):  
** thx :-) xxx

.

.

.

**ghost h (08:43 PM):  
** hey melanie  
what if we put u indirectly

**little body big heart (08:44 PM):  
** how?

**ghost h (08:44 PM):  
** we’ve got a plan >:D


	3. part three: the plan™ is executed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Let's go to Jim's house."
> 
> tw: some misogynist slurs but nothing major

“Are you 100% sure this will work?”, Josh asks for the thousandth time that day.

Halsey rolls her eyes. “Of course it’ll work. Who the hell do you think I am?”

“I don’t know, dude, what if they find out?”

“Josh, do you even _know_ the concept of pranking someone?”, she asks.

“They don’t”, Tyler interferes.

“Look, I don’t understand a lot of things, stop bullying me!”, they laugh. “That’s why we’re here, in fact...”

“Anyway!” He interrupts in a quiet voice. “Josh, shut up, they will listen if you keep on laughing.”

“No, they won’t, _you_ shut up.”

“ _You both_ shut up”, Halsey mutters in a sassy tone. “Josh, no offense, but your laugh is too fucking loud.”

“I’m sorry”, they mutter back.

“It’s fine, just try to keep it low for now. Alright, is everyone ready?”

“I have my car keys here if things get too ugly”, Tyler murmurs, showing them the keychain.

“Oh, good one, Ghost.” Halsey smiles in approval, and he smiles back.

“Thanks, Spooky Halsey, but that’s only if you can’t get on Spooky Jim’s skate. You know that, right?”

“Fine.”

“If you need anything, try to send us Morse coded messages so we can back up ya”, Tyler whispers quickly.

“Did Melanie write something to put inside the cookie box?”, Josh asks, a genuine look on their face.

“Yep she did, she gave me at class”, Halsey smirks, showing the box in her hands.

“Fuck, this is gonna be sick”, the boy whispers excitedly, and both of his friends smile back to him.

Halsey glances their “victims”, who are sitting on a bench. “Okay, I’m going there.”

“Good luck!”, both of them tell her as she leaves. They decide to stick there, so she’d know where to run first; besides, Josh got her backpack already, so she could grab it when and if they needed to run away. Tyler and Josh are basically behind the school building, and only from a specific angle people would notice them there.

“Do you think she’s gonna do just fine?”, Josh asks as they see Ash getting closer to the group.

“Of course”, Tyler answers. “She must do, I guess. And if it doesn’t work, at least we tried.”

“It’s gonna work,” Josh agrees, so they keep watching.

Halsey approaches them friendly, with smiles and everything. She keeps on talking to the boys, and laughing at their jokes at the right times, and then, just like that, she offers the cookie box, telling them something – Josh and Tyler know she’s saying that her mother bakes and she thought it’d be nice to share with some cool guys form school.

Naturally, the boys, intoxicated by the fact that such a gorgeous gal is being so cool to them, giving them home-made sandwich cookies and everything, the three of them eat with a lot of ferocity.

Naturally, just like they’ve planned, the three of them start coughing and spiting.

Halsey smirks as Nate, the leader, yells at her: “What the fuck, Ashley! What the fuck is this shit?!”

She grabs his shirt with such an amount of force and tells him something Tyler and Josh can’t understand, and, just like that, she starts leaving.

“Come back here, bitch!”, one of the guys start yelling, the note made by Melanie being crushed between his ugly fingers, and walking fast after her.

“Yeah, you fucking slut, if you’re brave enough to put toothpaste on cookies and give it to us, you must be brave enough to beat the three of us!”, the other yells, getting closer to her, and Nate and... James, Josh remembers, start running too.

Halsey runs, and her entire face screams “RUN!” to Tyler and Josh, so that’s what they do. She takes Josh’s skate and her backpack and gets closer to them, who are running already. “Fuck, where do we go?”

“I don’t know!” Josh screams.

“The car?” Tyler asks hurriedly.

“The car!”, both Josh and Halsey agrees, and she gets off Josh’s skate, quickly grabbing it and running by their side.

Luckily, Nate and his friends are much slower than they have thought in the first place, which makes it easier to get to the car and run away.

When Tyler is already driving in complete silence, leaving the school and Nate and his pals behind... Tyler looks at Josh, who looks back, and then looks at Halsey who is looking at them, and they start laughing so hard they start crying and can’t breathe.

“Oh my God, that was...!” She starts laughing again, her hands on her stomach.

Tyler is trying so hard to pay attention to where he’s going, since he’s laughing too much and his eyes are too narrowed because of the big smile. “Fuck, that was sick as _freaking hell!!_ ”

Josh is already crying of laughter as they ask, “Shit, Ash, what did you tell Nate when you grabbed him?”

“I just told him not to mess up with me or my frens or I’d punch his balls and make him eat them”, Halsey answers innocently.

Tyler gasps and starts coughing, and it obviously makes both of his friends laugh even more.

“Jesus Christ, Spooky Halsey, didn’t know you were such a violent gal”, Josh comments with a grin, looking at her behind them on the backseat.

“Darling, you don’t know me.” She winks at them.

“Okay, clique, where do we go?”, Tyler asks.

“Well I think we should go in adventures through the city, have fun, get high and drunk at the same time while we admire the stars”, Halsey says excitedly.

Silence.

“Or we can just go to my house, have a pj’s party and eat Skittles”, Josh offers shyly.

“Or that,” Halsey agrees.

“ _Or_ ,” Tyler grins like a child, “we can go to Taco Bell.”

“Tyler, I think you’re a bit too addicted to Taco Bell lately.”

“I’m not!”

“They’re right, this Taco Bell addiction can’t be healthy”, Halsey smirks. “Let’s go to Jim’s house.”

“Oi, you were the one suggesting that we should do drugs and get drunk!”

“But we’re not doing that, dude, we’re gonna do Skittles.”

Josh shakes their head. “Don’t say that again, it sounds so wrong.”

“ _Fine_ ,” Halsey narrows her eyes to them, and then turns to Tyler, who can’t stare back at her because he’s driving and he’s a responsible driver. “Let’s go to Jim’s house,” she repeats.

 

•|i|• Ø i+! ].[

 

The next week passes normally, and they see Melanie much more lately than before, which is not a problem at all. She proved to be, even though a very shy girl, really cool. Tyler is the one who talks the most with her, since they both are Full Of Concepts™ or something, besides the sensitive stuff and each one of them with a notable fashion style.

One day, though, Halsey, Josh and Tyler are chatting animatedly about Easter holiday that is coming soon and their plans, and Melanie approaches them timidly. “H-hey, guys.”

“Heyy Melanie!” Halsey cheerfully answers. “What’s up?”

“So, I wanted to thank you”, she starts in a low voice. “Like, you didn’t even know me, at all, and still wanted to help... and you really did. Because... Nate didn’t disturb me anymore, so...”

“Wait, really?” Josh asks, grinning sympathetically at her. “That’s great!”

“Yeah”, Melanie smiles. “I’m so glad you guys showed up. I admire you all for that. I mean... I almost thought that would never end. For real.”

“Huh, Nate is a fucking asshole,” Halsey comments. “Someone had to intervene. And he was such a baby when I faced him, honestly.”

“It’s because you’re kinda scary when you’re angry, Spooky Halsey”, Tyler replies in a sincere tone.

“Yeah, like, in general, you’re as sweet as a flower”, Josh completes. “But yeah, Ghost’s right, you’re scary as hell.”

“Thank you” she bows jokingly, and they laugh – even Melanie lets out a giggle.

Then she glares the three of them, biting her bottom lip, apprehensive. “Can I hug you all? Just to... thank you and stuff.”

“Of course”, Josh raises their eyebrows and Melanie smiles, hugging them first.

“Thank you for being so comprehensive”, she tells them. “When I asked for not involving me directly, I mean. And also for the random alien facts, they’re amazing by the way.”

Josh genuinely smiles at her, seeming glad enough for teaching someone all the random facts about aliens and space in general.

Then Melanie hugs Tyler, who hugs back tightly. “Thank you for being so kind to me and such a good... fren.”

His smile is very bright at her while she gets closer to Halsey.

“And thank you for everything.” Melanie hugs her as well, and it’s such a warm hug Ash wants to live there forever.

“We did what we thought it was right”, she says, kinda embarrassed.

“I know”, Melanie replies; then tells them she needs to go find her friend Troye and, just like that, she leaves.

The Skeleton Clique is too quiet.

“So?”, Tyler goes.

“What?” Josh replies.

“She...?”

“Skeleton Clique?” Halsey aks.

“In the...?” Tyler looks at her.

“I don’t understand”, Josh is frustrated.

Halsey sighs as Tyler seems thoughtful. “Maybe?”

“Who knows,” she says.

“I still don’t understand,” Josh is still frustrated.

“I think so.” The boy stares the corridor. “If she agrees, of course.”

“She would, I guess.”

“Oh, I think I understand”, Josh goes. Both Tyler and Halsey stop and look at them. “You think Melanie should join the Skeleton Clique.”

“Very good, Josh!” The girl is exclaiming as if she was talking with a puppy. “Get this cookie!” And she pretends to have a cookie on her hand.

“No, I don’t want a cookie, it must have toothpaste on it”, they say, and the three teenagers start laughing way harder than they should.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YEEEEEEE  
> crybaby ends here but not the series tho i still have some ideas for this au bWAHAHAHA [coughs] anyways thanks for reading !!! leave kudos if u enjoyed it and comments r always welcome 2 :^)


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